Lowering apparatus



Feb. 22, 1938. F. PARDEE, JR

LOWERING APPARATUS Filed June 23, 1937 4.Sheets-Sheet 1 VIL Feb. 22,1938.

F. PARDEE, JR

LOWERING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed June 25, 1957 INVENTOR.RANA/QfJ/PDEQJ,

ATTORNEYS Feb. -22, 1938. F, PARDEE, JR 2,109,139

LOWER ING APPARATUS Filed June 23, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Z/a Z/Q.

5 INVENTOR, BY AA/KRDEE/L/.

ATTORNEYS Feb. 22, 1938. F, PARDEE, JR

LOWERING APPARATUS Filed June 23, 1937 4 SlfleeLS-SheefI 4 INVENTOR. jRA/VAQDA//QQDEE/ L/r.

ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 22, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOWERINGAPPARATUS lApplication June 23, 1937, serial No. 149,797

11 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in lowering apparatus which ispeculiarly well suited for loading coal or other lump material intorailway cars, or holds of ships and the like. In

lowering such material, it is highly desirable that, as the materialleaves the loader, there be a minimum drop, so as to avoid breakagewhich -produces fines or a dust-like product having very little saleValue. Heretofore, coal has been frequently loadedinto railway cars by aso-called loading boom, which carries the coal from shak- .ing screensto the oar. A disadvantage of the use of such yloading boom lies in thefact that the coal ,must drop from one to two feet to the bottom of thecar or to the pile of coal in the car. Moreover, when ,a Vloading boomis used ordinarily the pile of coal is built up from the bottom of thecar to a point near one end. This results in a long slope extending forabout twenty feet from the top of the Vpile to the bottom of -the car`and the larger lumps frequently run down this twenty foot slope with aresulting breakage and degradation of the product.

When using such old loading boom, if the car is moved relatively to theboom periodically during the loading operation, practicing what is known.in the art as layer loading, the length of slope can be reduced toabout thirteen feet. The heavier lumps will run or roll down thisthirteen foot slope with resulting degradation.

My improved lowering apparatus hereinafter more fully described can belowered vertically practically all the way to the bottom of the car soas to initially deliver the lumps directly on the bottom with no drop,and by adjusting the loading apparatus relatively to the car I amenabled to reduce the vrun of the lumps to a maximum of approximatelythree or four feet with a resulting lessening of the liability ofbreakage and production of nes. My improved loader includes a series ofcarriers mounted on endless chains, each carrier having a pair of cheekplates which support a exible or reversible load supporting element.Means are provided i'or feeding the lump material to the carriers on theascending side of the chain and the arrangement is such that, as thechain and the carriers round the turn at the top supporting sprocketthereof the lump material is transferred from one carrier to theadjacent carrier in advance thereof.

Thereafter, the carriers move downward to a point adjacent the bottom ofthe car or vessel being loaded, whereupon the carriers are flexed so asto gently deposit the lump material on the bottom of 'the car or vessel.The cheek plates referred to have a lost motion connection'with thechain and the load supporting elements of the Vcarriers at their outerportions are pivotally connected to the chain pintles at points midwayv'between'the ends of the cheek plates. At the inner ends, the loadsupporting elements are pivotally connected to the inner portions of thecheek plates and the inner portions of the cheek plates and loadsupporting elements ride along a Vpair of interior walls, Which wallsare converged at their upper and lower ends, 4respectively, toward thecenters of the sprockets over rwhich'the chains are trained. For a morecomplete disclosure of the present invention, reference is to be had tothe following detailed description, claims and the accompanyingdrawings.

In the drawings- Fig. l is a vertical longitudinal section through acoal car showing Amy improved lowering apparatus in the startingposition; Fig. 2 is a view` showing the relative positions of the carand the 'lowering apparatus about the 'end of the loading operation;Fig. 3 is an end view of the lowering apparatus, as viewed at rightlangles rto Fig. l, also showing diagrammatically hoisting mechanism forbodily adjusting the lowering apparatus in a vertical direction; Fig. 3ais a view showing an alternative means for bodily adjustingthe loweringapparatus; Fig..4 'is an enlarged view, partly in `vertical section andpartly in elevation, illustrating the details of construction of thelowering apparatus; Fig. 5 is a view at right angles `to Fig, 4, asviewed from the leftside thereof and with parts broken away and shown insection on line 5--5 of Fig. 4, coinciding approximately with the planepassing through the axis of the sprockets of the apparatus; Fig. 6 'is adetail perspective view showing the essential elements of one of thecarriers comprising the propelling chains, cheek plates and flexibleload supporting elements; Fig. '7 is a detail of one `of the cheekplates shown'in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail in verticallongitudinal section illustrating the manner in which the flexible loadsupporting elements of the carriers coactwith the guide wall; Fig. 9 isa perspective detail view of a portion of one of the load supportingelements; Figs. 10, 11, and 12 `illustrate modified forms of thecarrier.

Referring in detail to the drawings, I have illustrated my improvedllowering apparatus in connection with the loading of bituminous coalinto a conventional type of hopper bottom railway car, indicatedgenerally at I0. It is to be understood, however, that the apparatus iswell suited for lowering lump material into barges, holds of ships orstorage silos, or the like.

The improved loader or lowering apparatus as a whole is indicated at I2and, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, it is suspended from an overhead yokeI4, which is secured to a cable I5, which passes over a guide sheave I6to a hoist drum I1 driven by a motor I8 controlled by a conventionalmanually operated controller I9. As so arranged, it will be understoodthat the lowering apparatus can be bodily adjusted vertically so as toposition the lower end thereof close to the bottom of the car, vessel orbin which is to receive the lowered material.

In the loading o-f railway cars at the mine or breaker, a shaking screen2l)l of conventional type may discharge lumps onto a short inclined lip2l carried by a fixed guide 2Ia, which engages ribs 2| b secured to theloader. The lip 2I .will direct the lumps to one of the ascendingcarriers hereinafter referred to, vwhich are propelled by a pair ofendless flexible members, such as the sprocket chains 22-22'. v

These chains are trained at their upper ends over sprockets 23-23 and attheir lower ends over sprockets 24-24.

The sprockets 23-23 are carried by an upper shaft k25, which isjournalled near its outer ends in bearings I4L-I4 carried by thedepending arms of the yoke I4. l

'I'he supporting bearing 26 carried by the shaft 25 has secured theretoa pair of parallel walls 21 and 28, which converge as shown in Fig. 4toward the member 26. Near the bottom of the apparatus, there is amember 29 similar to the member 26 and it supports a lower shaft 30,which carries the sprockets 24--242 The lower portions of the walls 21and 28 converge inwardly toward the center of the shaft 30.

Supported by the chains 22-22, there is an endless series of carriers,each of which is identical and, therefore, a description of one willsuflice for all. f

Each carrier includesa pairvof cheek plates 3I-3I, the plates 3I beingsecured to the chain 22 and the plates 3|l being secured to the chain22. These cheek plates are each connected near their outer ends with thechain by means of a pin and slot connection herein referred to as a lostmotion connection. This connection includes Vthe slotted portion 32 ofthe cheek plate,

'which is engaged by one of the pintle pins 33 connecting two adjacentchain lengths. The cheek plate at the end remote from the slottedportion 32 is provided with a round perforation 34 for engagementwithanother pintle pin or stud 35, which also connects two adjacentchain links.

Midway between the chain connections or pintles 33 and 35, the cheekplate is recessed, as indicated at 36, so as to provide clearance for across-rod 31, which at its ends also serves as a pintle connection forthe adjacent chain links. This cross-rod 31Y constitutes a pivotalmounting for one of the parts 38 of the load supporting element, whichalso includes another part 39, which is hinged thereto at 40. The innerend of the part 39 of the load'supporting element carries a trunnio-nportion 4I, which pivotally engages a perforation 42 formed in the innercentral portion of the cheek plate.

The inner extremities of the parts 39 of the load supporting elementsare provided with converging bearing faces 43 and 44, which are adaptedto ride on the guide walls 21 and 28.

The chains 22-22 are driven by the sprockets 23-23 through ring gear 45,which meshes with a drive pinion 46 carried by a shaft 41, which isdriven through speed reducing gearing, indicated generally at 48, whichin turn is driven by an electric motor 49, which is of the type alsoadapted to serve as a regenerative brake. The motor and transmissiongearing may be conveniently mounted on a support 50 located between theguide walls 21 and 28, thus being protected from the dripping of water,which the material handled usually carries or from sludge or otherforeign matter frequently clinging to such material.

The load supporting elements previously described in the constructionbest shown in Fig. 8 are flexibly connected by the hinged joint. Thishinged joint may also take the form of connecting .links or rings 5I,such as shown in Figs. 10 and l2, these rings or links passing looselythrough perforations 52 formed near the meeting edges of the parts 38and 39. Or, as indicated in Fig. 1l, the flexible load supportingelement may consist of a chain mesh member, such as shown at 53 in Fig,11. When such construction is used, the outer end of the load supportingelementv will carry a clip 54, which will engage the supporting rod 31asimilar to the rod indicated at 31 in Fig. 8 g

and the inner portion of the load supporting element will carry a clip55 engaging a rod 4I, the ends of which will be fitted in an aperture42EL in the cheek plates. This rod 4Ia will ride along the guide Walls21 and 28 in a manner similar to that in which the inner portion of themember 39 coacts with such walls.

In operation, coal coming from the breaker or from a. suitable storagebin will be fed to inclined shaking chute 20, which will discharge thelumps onto the lip 2|` extending outwardly from the upper end of a plate56 secured to the fixed guide Zla. The lump material will slide down thelip toward the inner guide wall 28 of the lowering apparatusk and willthus be received between the cheek plates 3| of one 'of the carriers.Continuing upward movement of the carrier will result in the load beingtaken by the hingedy connected or flexible load carrying elements. Asthe lump travels upwardly, the inner end of the load carrying elementrides along the wall 28.

As this wall approaches the axis of the shaft 25, which carries theupper chain driving sprockets, it converges inwardly. Thus, the distancefrom the guide wall 28 to the chain increases.` The load carryingelements, therefore, are flexed or gradually straightened out and as thecarriers round the turn the lump or load is shifted from a given carrierto the next one in advance thereof. The carriers are thus reversed asthey round the turn and they gradually descend with the movement of thechain, their inner ends riding on the guide wall 21. As the carriersapproach the bottom of the apparatus, they are again flexed orstraightened out, thus gently discharging their load and as they roundthe turn at the lower end of the apparatus the weight of the loadsupporting parts of the carrier is sufficient to again reverse them andto cause them 'to assume the load receiving position indicated in Fig.4, where-` upon they'ascend in succession to receive the lumps being,fed at a substantially constant stream.

The' spaced guide walls 21 and 28 for their greater portion are parallelwith the line of travel p of the opposite runs of the chain and attheir` upper and lower ends they curve toward or converge inwardly andmerge with the members 2B and 21, which surround the Ashafts 25 and 30,which support the upper and lower sprockets. The distance measuredlaterally outward from either wall 21 or 28 to the adjacent run of thechain is considerably less than the radial distance from the axis ofrotation of the sprockets to the outer periphery thereof.

By reason of such arrangement, in combination with the lost motionconnection between the cheek plates and the chains coupled with the factthat the cuter supporting rods 31 for the parts 33 of the loadsupporting elements are secured to the chain midway between theconnections of the cheek plates with the chain, it follows that, as thecarriers reach the sprockets and round the turn, the cheek plates spanthe chord of circle around which the chain travels, thus the said platesmove inwardly toward the axis of the sprockets, thereby moving inwardlythe stud pivots 4l of the parts 39 of the load carrying elements andthus exing the hinge joint 40 between said parts 38 and 39 andstraightening out and lengthening the same. Such straightened outposition of the parts 38 and 38 is indicated at the top central portionof Fig. 4.

This action shifts each load or lump gently from one carrier to anotheradjacent thereto as the successive carriers pass the central Zone abovethe axis of rotation of the upper sprockets 23-23.

By the use of my improved loader, the material can be accumulated in acar or the like in such a way that there will be a very short travel ofany lumps, which tend to roll. In Fig. l, I have illustrated a method ofloading hopper bottom cars lil, which are usually provided with aplurality of transverse braces Illa, Ib, and |00. The loading devicewill rst be llowered so that the lumps will be discharged directly onvthe bottom of the car. Then, as a pile, indicated by dotted lines a, isaccumulated, the loader is lifted, another layer, indicated at a'isaccumulated. Then, the apparatus will be again lifted so as toaccumulate the pile, indicated by the dotted line a2. This pile may beapproximately level with the cross-brace lila of the car.

Then by shifting the car along its track and lowering the apparatusbetween the braces |02' and lb, another pile of coal, indicated bydotted line b can be accumulated in the car. Then successive layers,indicated by dotted lines b' and b2 can be accumulated. In a similarmanner, the car can be shifted and the loader can be manipulated so asto successively build up the layers indicated by c, c', c2, d and d.When these mounds of coal or other material have been accumulated in thecar, the lowering apparatus can be adjusted to an elevation above thecross-braces, -thereupon the car can be gradually shifted along itstrack while the lowering device is in operation. In this manner, thematerial can be loaded so as to substantially level it 01T along layerse, e.

Or, if desired, the apparatus may be operated by starting from theposition about as indicated in full lines in Fig. 1, and graduallyelevated until a pile of material, as indicated by the dot and dash lineis accumulated at one end of the car. Thereupon, the car may be movedalong its track and the coal discharged gradually until the car iscompletely loaded as indicated in Fig. 2, it being understood thatduring such a loading operation the lowering apparatus may be bodilyadjusted by the Winch I 1 as' the loading progresses. In' Fig. 3a, Ihaveillustrated a modication, wherein the loading apparatus as a wholemay be pivotally mounted as indicatedy at 51 and rocked about thispivotal mounting by means of a cable E48 secured 4to a suitable swiveljoint carried by the lower sprocket shaft 30, the other end of the cablebeing attached to a hoisting drum 59 capable of swinging the apparatusfrom the full line to the dotted'positon shown, so as to cause adischarge of the material-at diiferent elevations. i" I While I havedescribed quite preciselyv certain detailed features of the embodimentsof the invention herein illustratedit is to be understood that variousmodifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made by thoseskilled in the art Without departing from the invention as described inthe appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus of theA character described comprising a pair offlexible members each carrying a series of cheek plates, each cheekplate being secured to its respective iiexible member with freedom formotion relatively thereto, and reversible load carrying elements eachsupported at one end by said cheek plates and at its other end by saidflexible members. l

2. An apparatus of Ythe character described comprising a pair of chainseach carrying a series of cheek plates having a lost motion connectiontherewith, load carrying elements each having a flexible jointintermediate its ends and having one end pivotally supported by saidpair of chains and its. other end pivotally supported vby a pair of saidcheek plates. i

3. An apparatus of `the character described comprising a pair of chainseach carrying a series of cheek plates having a lost motion connectiontherewith, load `carrying elements each having a flexible jointintermediate its vends and having one end pivotally supported by saidpair of chains and its other end pivotally supported by a pair of saidcheek plates, a pair of sprockets by which said chains are driven, apair of spaced walls along which the load carrying elements ride andmeans located between said walls for driving said sprockets. l

4. In an apparatus of the character described an endless series ofcarriers for receiving material to be lowered, a pair of 'flexiblemembers to which the outer ends thereof are connected, each carrierincluding cheek plates having a lost motion connection with a flexiblemember, flexible load carrying elements each supported at one end bysaid iiexible member and at the other end by certain of said cheekplates, spaced guide walls along which the load carrying elements ride,wheels with which said flexible members coact, said guide wallsconverging toward the axis of said wheels effective to assist insupporting the load as the carriers shift it from one to another as theyround the turn at the top of the apparatus.

5. Lowering apparatus of the character described comprising a shaftcarrying a pair of sprocket wheels, a pair of chains driven thereby,means at a location remote from. said shaft about which said chains aretrained, a series of carriers propelled by the chains each including apair of cheek plates having a lost motion connection with said chainsand a flexible load supporting ele/ment pivotally connected at its outerend with the chains at points approximately midway between the pointswhere the cheek plates are connected to the chain, the inner ends ofsaid elements being pivotally supported at the inner central portions ofsaid cheek plates, and guide walls along which said carriers travelhaving converging portions over which the inner ends of the carriersride as the chains pass around the sprockets, the above parts coactingto cause each carrier to straighten out and thus shift its load to thecarrier in advance thereof as they round the turn vat said sprockets.

6. Apparatus of the character described for lowering lump materials froman upper to a lower level with'a minimum breakage comprising a flexiblemember carrying an endless series of carriers, each carrier having arespective outer portion pivotally connected with the flexible member, aseries of cheek plates having a pin and slot connection with theflexible member and serving as end closures for the carriers, eachcarrier having an inner portion movable relatively to said outer portionand pivoted to said cheek plate, spaced walls with which the inner endsof the carriers coact as they follow the line of travel of said flexiblemember, and bearing means secured to said walls and supporting shaftscarrying wheels with which said flexible member coacts.

7. Apparatus of the character described comprising a pair of sprocketwheels propelling a pair of endless link chains, a series of cheekplates for each chainrwhose respective outer ends engage alternatepintles o-f said links, reversible load carrying elements whose outerends engage chain pintles midway between those engaged by the outer endsof said cheek plates, said load carrying elements being hinged betweentheir outer and inner ends and having their inner ends pivotally securedto inner portions of said cheek plates, and inner walls with which theinner ends of the load carrying elements coact, and bearings adjacenttheends of said walls carrying shafts for said sprockets.

8. An apparatus of the character described comprising a central uprightstructure including upright guide walls, sprockets supported on shaftsjournalled adjacent the upper and lower ends of said structure, chainscoacting with said sprockets and carrying a series of reversiblecarriers whose inner portions ride along said walls, the walls havingconverging portions at their upper and lower ends, suspension meansoperatively connected with the upper end of the structure, and meanscoacting therewith for bodily adjusting. the position of the apparatusas a whole.

9. An apparatus of the character described comprising a central uprightstructure including upright guide walls, sprockets supported on shaftsjournalled adjacent the upper 'and lower ends of said structure, chainscoacting with said sprockets and carrying a series of reversiblecarriers whose inner portions ride along said walls, the Walls havingconverging portions at their upper and lower ends, suspension meansoperatively connected with the upper end of the structure, a windingdrum coacting therewith for bodily adjusting the position of theapparatus as a whole, fixed means for guiding said structure vertically,a shaking chute, a stationary member located on the ascending side ofsaid chains and having a lip for receiving lumps from said shaking chuteand guiding them to said carriers as they ascend in succession.

10. An apparatus of the character described comprising a pair offlexible members jointly supporting an` endless series of ilexiblereversible carriers, wheels around which said members are trained,driving means for said wheels, a fixed inner structure with which theinner portions of said carriers coact means for bodily raising andlowering the foregoing assemblage, and

Vfixed means on, the ascending side of the ilexible members fordelivering material to the ascending carriers, the apparatus beingeffective to; first lift the material received from said xed means andthen to gently lower and discharge it at various desired elevations.

l1. An apparatus of the character described comprising a pair or chainsjointly supporting carriers including cheek plates and hingedlyconnected load carrying' elements, each having an outer portionpivotally secured to the chain and an inner portion pivotally secured toa respective cheek plate, a pair of sprockets with which the chainscoact, driving means for said sprockets, means for bodily raising andlowering the foregoing assemblage, a fixed chu-te o-n the ascending sideof the chain for delivering material to the ascending carriers, the saidapparatus being effective to rst lift the material received from thechute and then to gently lower and discharge it at various desiredelevations.

FRANK PARDEE, JR.

